Many posters are adament that they believe access to health care is not a constitutional right. I'm still not convinced, so feel free to keep on beating me up.

Thursday, I argued the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, where "we, the people" are to "promote the general welfare" made the case (click here). Today, I continue the argument, if you don't mind. Hang in with me. Section 8 of the Constitution, in detailing the powers of Congress, says this:

"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; ..."

It's really not much of a leap -- actually, no leap at all -- to argue access to health care is a right all American citizens should enjoy.

This issue has become a personal one for me. My mother died of cancer in 1997. One of her last acts was bankruptcy. She didn't have insurance not because she didn't want it or couldn't pay for it; she was denied because of a "pre-existing condition." Because of a lack of insurance, she waited too long to have the lump in her breast checked. The debt she ran up in three years of off-and-on cancer treatments and surgeries broke her bank account and her spirit. The day Mom died, the hospital called her house, dunning her for a payment on her account.

So even if I weren't convinced the U.S. Constitution already includes a right to health care, I'd want my government to provide it. The way Congress is going about this is wrong, and I'd rather see a bill with much more than this one. But here we are.